Sony Music Entertainment has launched a new legal action against Udio, alleging the AI music generator infringed on the copyrights of over 30,000 sound recordings.
Key facts
- •The lawsuit identifies over 30,000 songs, including 'Hound Dog' by Elvis Presley and 'As It Was' by Harry Styles.
- •Sony claims the 30,000 songs represent only a small portion of the works it believes Udio has infringed.
- •Sony is seeking up to $150,000 in damages for each individual work infringed.
- •Udio allegedly admitted to using a vast amount of sound recordings from sources including YouTube to train its models.
- •Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have settled with Udio and are now partnering with the company.
Sony Music Entertainment filed a lawsuit in a New York court on Monday against the AI music generator Udio. The company alleges that Udio infringed on the copyrights of more than 30,000 songs by copying and ingesting them into its generative AI models. The list of affected works includes tracks by artists such as Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Johnny Cash, and Harry Styles.
By the numbers
Legal Background and Discovery
This new lawsuit follows a 2024 legal action brought by Sony, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records against Udio and the AI music-maker Suno. During the discovery phase of that initial case, Sony utilized an audio fingerprinting technique to identify additional songs it claimed were used in Udio's training data. Although Sony attempted to add these 30,000 songs to the original lawsuit, a judge rejected the motion, limiting that case to 333 works.
Claims and Potential Damages
Sony alleges that Udio admitted its models were constructed by showing the program a vast amount of sound recordings, including content from YouTube. The company is seeking to block Udio from further infringing on its works and is requesting damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work. While Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have since settled with Udio and entered into partnerships, Sony continues its legal challenge.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by The Verge.
